Achieving ISO 9000 certification is not easy. Describe one difficulty a company may encounter

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Obtaining ISO 9001 certification is a time-consuming and costly process. Depending on the current state of an organization's quality system, preparation for certification may take several thousand employee-hours and cost thousands of dollars. Costs depend on the company size, the strength of the organization's existing quality system, and the number of plants within the company requesting certification. As with any major process improvement, the opportunity to fail exists. Attempts to incorporate ISO 9000 into the way a company does business may be hindered by a variety of forces, including insufficient management involvement in the process, inadequate resources, lack of an implementation plan, or lack of understanding about ISO 9000 and its benefits. This last force, a lack of understanding about ISO 9000, is particularly crucial. ISO 9001 requires significant documentation. The additional burden of paperwork, without an understanding of how this newfound information can be used in decision-making and organizational improvement, leads to problems. It is important to realize that standardized procedures and organized information go a long way toward preventing errors that lead to poor quality products and services. Organizations that are unaware of how to access the power that procedures and information provide may miss out on improvement opportunities. It is up to leadership to encourage the use of this information, thus gaining the maximum benefits from ISO 9000.